It is often desirable to place various downhole equipment into a borehole and later on retrieve the equipment therefrom. For example, in a cased borehole having a production tubing extending downhole into proximity of a fluid-producing formation, it is often desirable to place a package of instruments or other downhole equipment in the production tubing by circulating fluid in a downward direction through the production tubing until the package arrives at its destination. Later, when it is desired to retrieve the package of instruments, reverse circulation is employed to circulate the package back uphole to the top of the production tubing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have made available a packer nose assembly for pumping downhole equipment of the free type into and out of boreholes. It is further desirable that the packer nose assembly be of a design which reduces flow across a packer element thereof so that very little slippage of fluid occurs as the assembly is being circulated into or out of a borehole. A device of this type is especially useful in conjunction with downhole, hydraulically-actuated pumps. A packer nose assembly of the above described type is the subject of this invention. The following patents exemplify the prior art: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,719,768; 2,802,535; 2,893,493; 3,525,401; 3,530,935; Great Britain Pat. No. 703,381; and Great Britain Pat. No. 917,863.